History VideoGame / Rakuen

''Rakuen'' is an AdventureGame, developed by Creator/LauraShigihara in UsefulNotes/RPGMaker and released for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on May 10th, 2017. A sequel titled ''Mr. Saitou'' and a port to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch are scheduled to be released on March 23, 2023, and a mobile port is in the works as well.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: The theme of the game is that although you ARE helping the people at the hospital a great deal, you can't magically solve all their problems - [[spoiler: Kisaburo still has dementia, Tony's son is still dead, etc. Despite this theme, a few characters are able to avoid a bittersweet ending after all they've been through.]]
** [[spoiler: The credits sequence shows that Gemma woke up from her coma and reunited with Winston. They've been through so much, it's almost like the game just said, "Okay fine, let them have this."]]
** [[spoiler: Tony is able to reconcile with his estranged daughter Christina, allowing him to be involved with her life once more.]]

** [[spoiler: Sue's father left her family due to a gambling addiction. He is currently the homeless man known as Uma, and despite camping out in the abandoned part of the hospital he never once pays her a visit out of shame for his past actions.]]

** Though he doesn't admit it until the end, [[spoiler: the Boy is hurt that his father chose to stay at the nuclear plant and give up his life to prevent a meltdown rather than evacuating when he was given the chance to leave.]]

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The patient lounge can be decorated with all sorts of dolls, furniture, and pets that can be found throughout the journey. Most of these collectibles can be obtained at any time, but a few of them are hidden in areas that are only accessible during certain parts of the story.

* RewatchBonus: Replaying the game knowing that [[spoiler: Yami is the Boy's innermost thoughts rather than a separate character]] puts his demeanor in a different light. [[spoiler: Despite his unshakable optimism, the Boy has to wrestle with many negative thoughts such as resentment over those around him passing away one by one and thinking his illness makes him too weak to be a hero or deserve a wish from Morizora.]]
* ScatterbrainedSenior: Kisaburo is an old man suffering from delirium caused by the the tumors that metastasized to his brain. He thinks he's at his job rather than a hospital, never recognizes his wife when she visits, and much to the ire of the hospital staff, has been sneaking out to dig up buckets of dirt and dump it all in a back room. [[spoiler: Completing his quest reveals that he was trying to use his fleeting moments of clarity to build a small flower garden as a token of his love for his wife before the disease claimed his life.]]

* SillyLoveSongs: Gemma's and Kisaburo's songs are both songs directed at how much they love their spouses, even if separated by [[spoiler: a coma or failing memories, respectively.]]

* TragicKeepsake: Tony's most prized possession is a broken music box that used to play the tune of a lullaby he'd sing to his daughter Christina. [[spoiler: The two haven't spoken to each other ever since the accident that claimed his son Benny's life, but the quest to fix the music box leads to you helping him reconcile with her.]]

''Rakuen'' is an AdventureGame, developed by Creator/LauraShigihara in UsefulNotes/RPGMaker and released for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on May 10th, 2017. In 2022, a port to both the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch (scheduled for March 23, 2023) and mobile was announced.

The Boy has been hospitalized for a while now due to his illness, so to cheer him up his Mom finally reveals a family secret: When combined with its key, the book can open the path to the mythical realm from the story. Together the Boy and his Mom enter Morizora's Forest to have a wish granted, only to learn that the Guardian of the Forest has been placed in a deep slumber due to a darkness that has fallen over the land. Only a special song called "Mori no Kokoro" can lift the darkness and awaken Morizora, but the lyrics and melody can only be learned by heeding the cries of the denizens of the forest. And so the Boy and his Mom embark on a quest to assist the forest inhabitants, each of whom closely resemble his fellow patients at the hospital...

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Sue's death. The sudden passing of his friend is what finally breaks the Boy's spirit, and makes him give in to his own negative thoughts and fears.]]

* HeroicBSOD: The boy suffers this after [[spoiler:Sue dies, despite his efforts in trying to help her.]]

** The "Mori no Kokoro" are fully voiced songs of strong emotional value that are needed to wake up Morizuka.

** Sue's father [[spoiler:Uma]] hasn't come to visit her in the hospital.

** Though he doesn't admit it until the end, [[spoiler:the Boy is hurt that his father chose to stay at the nuclear plant and give up his life.]]

''Rakuen'' is an AdventureGame, developed by Laura Shigihara (the composer of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and a songwriter for ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'' and ''VideoGame/FindingParadise'', amongst others) in UsefulNotes/RPGMaker and released for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on May 10th, 2017. In 2022, a port to both the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch (scheduled for March 23, 2023) and mobile was announced.

''Rakuen'' is an AdventureGame, developed by Laura Shigihara (the composer of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and a songwriter for ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'' and ''VideoGame/FindingParadise'', amongst others) in UsefulNotes/RPGMaker and released for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on May 10th, 2017. In 2022 a port to both the Nintendo Switch and mobile was announced.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: The Envoys are the source of the negative energy plaguing the forest, but they are neither evil nor very aggressive. These ghostly creatures send you back a few steps or to the previous screen when you touch them and seem to hover in the darker parts of the game, but that's about it.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Alice and Dean are a couple of Leebles that live next to Winston. During the festival, Alice is trying to ask Dean how was the work that day, but he gets constantly distracted, at one point by the fact that [[ExaggeratedTrope Alice has ears]]. ([[DontExplainTheJoke For the record]], every Leeble has huge triangular ears that are impossible to not notice)
* BilingualBonus: For whatever reason the Leebles keep asking if the boy and his mother are some sort of horse since humans aren't native there. Then you find out the old man named ''Uma'' (which means "horse" in Japanese) has also been coming here, so [[BrickJoke the Leebles might have just misunderstood his name as being his species]].
* BittersweetEnding: Everyone at the hospital is helped, and the boy makes their lives better with his actions in the fantasy world. [[spoiler:Sue still dies, as does Uma and Kisaburo. The boy wishes to go to Rakuen, and die, by default. His mother promises to be strong, and she goes back to take care of his little brother.]]

** [[spoiler:The boy asks for Morizora to let him travel to Rakuen, the afterlife.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Sue's death. The sudden passing of his friend is what finally breaks the boy's spirit, and makes him give in to his own negative thoughts and fears.]]

* EmoTeen: Yami, who appears whenever the Boy is trying to sleep. [[spoiler:He actually represents the boy's sadness, anger and resentment about being sick and about his father dying.]]

* ImplausibleDeniability: It's revealed that [[spoiler:the mother believes that her son will get better. Yami and the boy reveal that they overheard the doctors saying that he's not getting better, even as Mom protests that it's not true. It's justified since the boy has ''cancer'', she just lost her husband to a nuclear accident, and she is trying to be strong for her family. The final stage of the game is about the mother reassuring the boy that she can still be strong if he dies, that he doesn't need to try to protect her by fighting to live, and that she can let him go]].

* NoNameGiven: The Boy goes unnamed for the whole game. Same for his [[UnnamedParent mother and father]].

** Though he doesn't admit it until the end, [[spoiler:the boy is hurt that his father chose to stay at the nuclear plant and give up his life.]]

** The boy is a CheerfulChild [[spoiler:mourning his father and his cancer]].
** The boy's mother visits the hospital regularly while [[spoiler:making sure his brother is safe with her mother, mourning her husband, and eventually having to let the boy go when he desires to go to Rakuen.]]

* TragicKeepsake: Tony's music box. [[spoiler:The quest to fix it leads to you helping him reconcile with his daughter Christina.]]

** [[spoiler:Immediately after the bombshell that is Sue's death as listed below, Yami visits the boy once again, and what he tells him is the first sign about his true identity.]]

** Not the lines itself, but who says it: [[spoiler:the boy asking why his father left him, why he chose to leave.]]
** The boy's wish: [[spoiler:he asks to go to Rakuen, to the afterlife, rather than for his cancer to be cured.]]
** Throughout Gemma and Winston's section early in the game, you stumble across a number of newspaper clippings about [[spoiler:a catastrophe and people being exposed to radiation, all a few days after March 11, the day of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami]]

** The last shot before the credits: [[spoiler:the boy taking his hat off, revealing he lost his hair from chemotherapy.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2351032_rakuen_poster16.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''And we swim and we fall, hold my hand through it all'']]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: The envoys. Touching them sends you back a few steps, and they seem to hover in the darker parts of the game.

* CooldownHug: The mom offers one to [[spoiler:Yami, the dark manifestation of her son.]]

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: The theme of the game is that although you ARE helping the people at the hospital a great deal, you can't magically solve all their problems- Kisaburo still has dementia, Tony's son is still dead, etc. Despite this theme, the credits sequence shows that Gemma woke up from her coma and reunited with Winston. They've been through so much, it's almost like the game just said, "Okay fine, let them have this."]]
** [[spoiler:Not to mention Tony is able to reconcile with his estranged daughter, allowing him to be involved with her life once more]].
** Talking to Danielle in the cafeteria about Sue right before the ending of the game [[spoiler:reveals that Sue was somehow able to reunite with Puchi at the hospital before her death, with Danielle stating that she's never seen Sue so happy, other than when she was spending time with the Boy]].

** CallARabbitASmeerp: Meanwhile, there are other animals that look, act and bleat like sheep, but are called with another name.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When you first visit Morizora and his helpers explain to you that you need to help your fellow patients to awaken him, the examples they give are "A man whose connection with his wife has been severed" and "A woman who prepares to lose that which is the most dear to her". [[spoiler: Obviously the first one refers to Winston and Gemma, but only at the end of the game is it made clear that the second example is about the Boy's mother herself, soon to lose the son she loves.]]

* InsertSong: The Mori no Kokoro are songs of strong emotional value to wake up Morizuka.
** SillyLoveSongs: Gemma's and Kisaburo's songs are directed at their spouse.
** FriendshipSong: Sue's song.
** ParentalLoveSong: Tony's and [[spoiler: Mom's]] songs.
** RepriseMedley: When all songs have been collected, everyone sings their individual song with the others.

* LittlestCancerPatient: [[spoiler:The boy is one, though he is actually upset about being ill.]]

-->-- '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXJqi2KmhCw Rakuen - 2014 Trailer]]'''

%%[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]%%

''Rakuen'' is an AdventureGame, developed by Laura Shigihara (the composer of ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' and a songwriter for ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'' and ''VideoGame/FindingParadise'', amongst others) in UsefulNotes/RPGMaker and released for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on May 10th, 2017. It follows the tale of a sick boy at a hospital, who decides to visit another world.

The boy and his mother have shared a family secret, a book that can take them to another world. The boy wants to visit Rakuen, a mythical land, and so he decides to ask Morizora of the Forest if he can go. Morizora demands that the boy help others around the forest first, however.

* GrumpyBear: Tony is this in both the human world and in the fantasy realm. He's actually a bear in the latter.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Kisaburo's symptoms are suggestive of either dementia, Alzheimers, or a form of schizophrenia. Whatever it is, [[spoiler:he ends up dying despite the hospital's best efforts.]] His medical file more or less states that [[spoiler:he's suffering from brain tumors, and those are the cause of his hallucinations.]]

* NiceHat: The Boy's origami samurai helmet. You can [[http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-samurai-hat.html actually make one]] if you wish!

* AdultFear: Many run rampant in this game.
** The boy has [[spoiler:a form of cancer, and he's spent most of his time at the hospital. His father then dies in a nuclear meltdown. Knowing that he is going to die, and that his father had the chance to come home has made the boy bury a lot of grief and resentment.]]
** Tony's backstory reveals [[spoiler:he lost his son Benny in an accident when he wasn't there, leading to his falling out with his daughter.]]
** Kisaburo is struggling with memory loss and hallucinations, to the point where he can't recognize his wife.
** As we find out, [[spoiler:a nuclear meltdown has happened, all but stated to be Fukushima. The workers at the plant die while completing a shutdown, and the hospital loses supplies, patients and space to flooding.]]
** Uma is homeless, stealing hospital supplies to survive, and [[spoiler:he doesn't want to see his sick daughter because he was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic.]]

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Sue's death. The sudden passing of his friend is what makes the boy give in to his negative thoughts and fears about his own situation.]]

Boy and his mother have shared a family secret, a book that can take them to another world. The boy wants to visit Rakuen, a mythical land, and so he decides to ask Morizora of the Forest if he can go. Morizora demands that the boy help others around the forest first, however.

!! Tropes for this game include:

** Yami turning into [[spoiler:an envoy, and vanishing with the Boy]]

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: The theme of the game is that although you ARE helping the people at the hospital a great deal, you can't magically solve all their problems- Kisaburo still has dementia, Tony's son is still dead, etc. Despite this theme, the credits sequence shows that Gemma woke up from her coma and reunited with Winston. They've been through so much, it's almost like the game just said, Okay fine, let them have this."]]

** As we find out, [[spoiler:a nuclear meltdown has happened, implied to be Fukushima. The workers at the plant die while completing a shutdown, and the hospital loses supplies, patients and space to flooding.]]

* TraumaInn: The ability to sleep in the Leeble Village Inn is evocative of this but since the game lacks combat it doesn't actually serve a gameplay purpose.

''Rakuen'' is a 2017 VideoGame/RPGMaker game by Laura Shigihara. It follows the tale of a sick boy at a hospital, who decides to visit another world.

** The last shot before the credits: [[spoiler:the boy taking his hat off, revealing he lost his hair from chemotherapy.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's unclear if Kisaburo is suffering from dementia, Alzheimers, or a form of schizophrenia. Whatever it is, [[spoiler:he ends up dying despite the hospital's best efforts.]]
** His medical file more or less states that [[spoiler:he's suffering from brain tumors, and those are the cause of his hallucinations.]]

** A more somber and creepier version of Tony's music box theme, [[spoiler: "My Little Girl,"]] can be heard in the "Broken Attic" track that plays [[spoiler: in Tony's house.]]

** A more somber and creepier version of Tony's music box theme, "My Little Girl," can be heard in the "Broken Attic" track that plays while in Tony's house.